The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-02
TEE NATIONS BOOKS.
Crowded Congressional and Depart
naeat Libraries.

LEGATIONS from tile epnemeral newspaper TO
the more enduring book Comparatively
few stop to consider that the most valuable
libraries owned by the government and
stored in Washington are those belonging
10 the various departments There are
600, 900 volumes, pamphlets, etc, in the
great collection at the capitol. But there
is the last place in the world the investiga-
tor should go when he desires to examine
into any particular question exhaustively.
The cataloguIng Is incomplete and inetfi-
Gent. Librarian Spofford is unable to tell
what he has and what he has not. The Ii.
brary is exceedingly rich in Americana,
such as literature relating to Washington
and all the early governmental history. 1t
is rich in history, genealogy and, of course,
is an immense collection of books on all
subjects. The co wright law has aided in
sending all new American publications into
the library. But the alcoves have become
so crowded that for years Congress has ap-
propriated very niggardly for the purchase
of books 1t therefore results that the vast
and Indispensable literature of other coun-
tries is not accommodating in this national
collection. There are from time to time
public and private sales in this country of
rare and valuable libraries, but Mr.. Spot
ford has had no money with which to be-
come bidder, and i'll many cass he has
been lOTCeQ W pIOLSIo Ol bargains
because he does not know what the library
has in it, The card catalogue is wretchedly
incomplete. In fiction there is wonderful
accumulation. When the new building is
completed the arrangement will possibly
make this great library available. More
assistants will be needed.
But it is in the departments where the
specialist will roam to find authorities and
literature concerning his particular line of
these various collections, not counting the
Senate and House of Representatives libra
ries, in which are rs, 900 more In the State
Department there are about %, 600 volumes.
The branch of diplomatic law is complete
in all languages. 1t is in these technical
subjects that the Congressional library is
weak 1t is omnifarious but also promiscu-
GUS and incomplete. The State Department
has rare collections of history, and espe-
cially colonial. All biography of statesmen
of all lands who have had to do with diplo-
matte relations can be found in this care
fully selected library. Mr.. Dwight, the
librarian, while abroad had to be stopped in
his way of buying books right and left.
The nucleus of this collection was made by
Thomas jefferson. Works on travel also
abound.
The War Department has a useful library.
Joel R. Poinsett, when Secretary, gave it
wise direction. Its technical works on mill
tary science are astounding in mber 1t
also is rich in biography and travels, and
the clerks have good general collection of
reading matter on its shelves to select from.
The Navy Department library occupies
the most beautiful room IN the city. Its
decorations far surpass the Presidents room
in the capitol and any of the far famed rooms
in the White House with particolored uphol-
stery. This Library room has lofty vaulted
ceilings with bronze statuary and symbol
cal decorations. The sides are panels of
beautiful mantelic marble The books are
unique. The librarian is Prof Souley,
formerly of the Annapolis Academy, whose
historian he is Among all the librarians
he is the most accomplished and has labored
with the most intelligence to secure a useful
collection. Few people comprehend the
scientific requirements in the many branches
of naval science and warfare. A navy is
for fighting purposes solely. 1t must al
ways be kept at the highest pitch of excel
lence. Precise knowledge of the naval
achievements of other nations must be ac-
quired and daily refreshed and maintained
knowledge of gunnery, armor, harbors,
meteorology, equipment, steam engineering,
the resistance of metdls--wel, in fact,
nearly every branch of mechanics, chemis-
try, everything in the broadest sense of
physics, is matter of constant study in the
Navy Department. The study of naval
construction involves not only the archi-
lecture of the sea, but leads into the study
of woods. Well, here in this gorgeous mar
BILE room, rarely invaded by the sightseer,
is an accumulation of just such technical
works. 1t will simply amaze even the ordi-
narly verSed reader of books to examine
the array of volumes i'll the alcoves. Many
can be procured nowhere for money. They
were printed for private circu lation and
many are from foreign countries where
titled or wealthy men have contributed the
results of their researches in naval science.
Upon no less than fifty distinct subjects re-
1ating to a navy there is an exhaustive COL
lection of treatises. There are few antique
works; it is library for constant reference.
One unique book is a copy of the reDublica-
ton by the British Admiralty Office in 1912,
when Great Britain expected another French
war, of the committees report on the causes
of the defeat and dispersal of the Spanish
Armada in the sixteenth century. This is
illustrative of how peculiar a science naval
warfare is Here are to be found large en-
cravings of all the vessels in foreign fleets.
In the patent Office there are $4,000 volumes
and it is beyond comparison the finest Ii
brary of its kind in the world. Its natui e
is readily suggested by its location. Here is
where cranks, geniuseS and inventors bur-
row. and here is where marplots search for
some old cut or description of a machine in
old foreign books that may harass some
American inventor with their knowledge of
a prior suggestion of the mechanism con-
tanned in some forgotten work, and thus
compel hush money or partnership.
The Surgeon Generals office has also So
600 volumes, and it is only surpassed in ex-
cellence by some library of surgery in Ger
many, | believe. 1t is a wonderful collec-
tion of treatises on surgery and general
medicine. The civil war endowed this IL
brary with a marvellous number of special
reports on wounds. There are valuable
libraries in the bureaus of education, agri-
culture, coast survey, geological surN ey,
and in the Interior and Treasury Depart
mentS there is enough of fiction to supply
the sweet clerks with romances. The de-
partment of Justice has law library that,
though not so large as the law branch of
the Congressional library (which has 1000
volumes), has many exclusive works Caleb
Gushing obtained for this collection inval-
uable Spanish and Mexican law books,
which are necessary in working on the old
land claims in the California and territorial
acquisitions from Mexico. Some of these
tones are attractive objects, not for their
beauty of binding, but the peculiar neatness
Of the typogi Apply. The coverings are the
sheepsk1ns, yellow and greasy
and loose, like the modern school boy covers
his book with folded newspaper. Though
the library at the capitol is exhaustive in its
of State reports and crown trials
and criminal cases in all countries, yet the